Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1887-03-22
QUEEN OF THE ANTILLES.
New Haven Colony Historical Soeiet
Paper by Professor WaYland.

| New Haven Colony Historical Society
Paper by Professor Wayland.
| Professor Waylands paper, "Cuba as it il
| to day" was read before the above society
last evening and was very interesting &c
| those present, who have often been there, in
| recalling scenes, old and new, and also in
structive to those who know our next neigh
Dor in the South only by what they have
heard. A very large attendance listened at
tentively to the reading.
1t was quite evident that the celebrated
elder, who lectured on Cuba fifteen years ago
to very select few who paid ten cents each
to listen, did not exhaust the subject, and
besides, the world has moved a long ways in
those few years, and so has the elder.
Professor Wayland said Cuba is 7S0 miles
long and 80 miles wide. 1t has twelve excel
lent harbors, of which Havana is the best.
Its climate is tropical in the low land and
temperate in the high land.
Gold and silver is thought to be there and
iron is certainly and copper abundant. The
forests extensive and the timber is valua-
BILE. Education is in very low state, and
the people are lazy and ignorant.
Law in Cuba is simply the unequal dis
tribution of injustice, farce, and worse than
The treasury is hopeIessly bankrupt, not
withstanding the exceedingly fertile soil and
the vast crops of sugar, coffee and tobacco.
The fine harbor of Havana is the cesspool of
the city, and it is computed that its bottom
is five feet thick, with pure fertilizing mat
ter. After the discovery of Cuba its original
Inhabitants were quickly civilized in
to death, and Christianized into the
Catholic church. Their place was soon
fill ed by slaves from Africa and when slave
importing was crushed out, the coolie trade
from China was started and carried on so
cruelty that the civilized world set its face
against that also. Negro slavery has been
very gradually closed out, and now the
Queen Regent of Spain has signed a decree
anticipating the final abolition. But it is
safe to say that this decree will be practical
ly ignored and nullifed by the planters, and
many will be the potent factor in this as in
all other Cuban affairs. Cuban lotteries are
the bane of the poor and rich alike Our in
terview with the customs officials was tedi-
Gus, but an intimation from the officer
through the interpreter that
present would be acceptable we
deposited the fee and were
speedily passed along. Nothing struck me
so forcibly as the universal habit of smoking
everywhere seen, and worse nuisance can
not be imagined. Its debititating effects on
both body and mind cannot be ignored. A
lesson to many of our American youth can
be drawn from this.
All places of trust and honor are filled by
Spaniards and the leading men in all depart
ments are of the same nationality.
Taxes are onerous beyond all telling; no
one being allowed vote unless he pays a
tax of at least $25. Cuban sugar is no longer
sold in the remotest corners of the earth and
the plantations almost all in helpless
arrears. The excessive use of guano has
injured the quality of the tobacco. But
h. Boot Ill -,
power of tribes and the perversion of JUS
tice. Imprisonment is, for the poor, simply
death unless the convict escapes, and for
the rich it is only brief farce. Men of
black record and fat pocketbooks, but loud
in their profession of loyalty to the Havana
government walk the streets unmolested.
The illustrations of these were numerous and
to the point. The innate cruelty of the
tive Cuban cannot be overstated and is only
equalled by its cowardly meanness. Every
thing shows dec dence and the habits of all
classes indicate entire lack of confidence in
the honesty of their own kind. Every man
watches every other one with as keen suspi-
cion as the lazy habits of the people will al
low.
The climate could hardly be described
from a weeks residence, but in Havana it
consists principally of a high temperature
and bad smells.
The Cuban newspaper is a curiosity. Moth
ing sensational moves the Cuban editor, and
murders, robberies, ETC., are passed over as
if they were not. In fact the government
censor is the universal editor, and in
consequence the papers are monuments of
stupidity.
If asked what is to be the future of Cuba
frankly confess that 1 cannot foretell. The
negro is the natural inhabitant of Cuba and
is by nature fitted to the climate. What
then is to be the future of Cubas GA black
republics" Queen Sabe? (Who knows.)
Mr. Thomas R. Trowbridge, jr., confirmed
the description given by Professor Wayland
and said that in Porto Rico and all other
Spanish islands the same low state of morals
prevails and that the difference between them
and the islands under the English govern
ment was patent to the most casual observer.
Hon. G. B. Bowers moved vote of thanks
to the speaker of the evening, which was
heartily seconded and passed unanimously.